What have I been up to lately?

Great question, thanks for asking! In most recent and exciting news, I have officially met my FIRST FINANCIAL DEADLINE!!! I could not have done it if it weren't for all of your prayer and both financial and physical resource support. This milestone brings us one step closer to launch and, oddly enough, that means this is all real! Whether you bought my baked goods or world's finest chocolate bars, paid me for small odd-and-end jobs, participated in my adopt-a-box fundraiser, or simply submitted donations just because, I cannot say thank you enough for your support. 

Aside from meeting my first big deadline (YAY!!!), there has been much more going on to be excited about as well. Let's go back in time a little to the beginning of my last year of college (Fall 2021). Two words for you: senior. paper. (Insert Jaws theme song) Writing this was a massive undertaking; Here was my view for a few months (what felt like an eternity). 

Finally, my season of rabbit-hole researching, finger-torture writing, and life-giving coffee breaks came to a close - I got to turn in my completed senior paper. The relief of setting this bad boy on my advisor's desk was equal to what I imagine it feels like to successfully diffuse a bomb. 

This may not be the general consensus, but I actually LOVED researching and writing for my paper topic. It aligned with so many things God has been showing me and the experience, laborious as it was, actually blessed me immensely. My senior thesis is about culture and theology and the study of communication and the history of missions and all that good stuff. If this sounds tragically boring to you, I am not at all offended (feel free to keep scrolling). However, if this sounds as interesting to you as it did for me, I'd love to send you a copy (feel free to message me or email me). Regardless of how you feel about St. Paul and Ramon Llull and Martin Luther, we can all just celebrate that it is finished!

Okay, enough about senior paper. I promise I have a life outside of school (well... that may be a bold overstatement). Anyway, in addition to dedicating my time to school, I also organized campus events at ORU's Student Association and got to revel in my last event ever! So fun and bittersweet!

I also got to represent ORU by competing at various debate tournaments all year (including nationals, baby)! I am incredibly grateful to the entire team and especially thankful to Coach Molly Brown who is the glue that holds the debate program together. Side note: We did fun superlative awards at our end-of-the-year banquet and I got the "Most Likely to Make Someone Fall in Love with Debate" award. This especially means a lot to me because, at least at the college level, debate is a dying art. At the very beginning of my senior year, I set a goal as captain to encourage younger debaters to get more involved in the program. I am very pleased to see that happening at ORU.

Enough about World Race fundraising and school and events and debate, what else has been going on? If you can believe it, quite a bit actually. I've been learning Spanish (thank you, Duolingo) and guitar (thank you, Youtube). I am proficient at neither, but hey I'm having fun! Also, check out how my broken-but-healed-incorrectly pinky finger grips the strings lol. 

Included in the misc.-things-I-did-this-year category is that I got my wisdom teeth removed, held a baby skunk, painted memes like the renaissance woman I am, went cliff jumping and bruised my tailbone, ate barbecue at the Governor's mansion, played MarioKart during lunchtime every Tuesday and Thursday, got stung by a bee while waiting in line for a concert, explored an abandoned mall, cut 9" off my hair, played Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5, got Bronchitis, went thrift shopping in TX, UT, and AL, hiked in OK and NY, went to Homecoming with a stranger, drank way more coffee than necessary, and got to play "British Jesus" in a class presentation. I also spent some time hanging out at  Bass Bro Shop, 

 visited Niagara Falls, 

went to a few concerts, 

and went winter backpacking (it was SO COLD - we parked our tent on a snowpack and slept in nineteen degrees... but we survived).

There was certainly more that happened as well, but these are just a few highlights. I cannot fail to mention one of my favorite experiences at ORU: I got to speak in chapel! Check it out at the link below!

Click Here to watch my speech! (Don't worry, it's not long.)

Finally, I did this thing where I studied at college for a long time and they gave me a piece of paper: I graduated! 

So, that is pretty much what I've been up to lately. I love Jesus and love my life and cannot wait to see what He does with it. What's next? Not sure, but I'll let you know as soon as I find out. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be greater than anything I could ever imagine.  Thank you for your love and prayer and support - I really could not be here without you. 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us

Hebrews 12:1

 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:9-11